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Poker Face

The other day Rachel, Tessa, and I went to get our hair washed at the salon next door. This salon is a family business and run by a mother, Neth, and her 18-year-old daughter, Pau. As stated in previous posts, having one’s hair washed is a great way to end a stressful day.

This day was particularly different because the mother decided to style our hair. Tessa received a cute French braid and I received a decent hairstyle as well. Rachel on the other hand was not as lucky, which leads me to the title of this blogpost. When Rachel was getting her hair styled, she was facing the opposite direction of Tessa and me. Once she was finished, the mother turned Rachel’s chair to reveal Rachel’s stylish hairstyle. I tried my hardest to not laugh or make a face, but after .01 seconds I burst out laughing. I could not contain my laughter, which resulted in Tessa and Rachel bursting out laughing. I felt really bad, but honestly this hairdo was just too good to be true. It looked as if Rachel's hair was a helmet form the movie Leatherheads. Apparently my inability to control my laughter means I have no poker face. 

 

Sorry, I cannot figure out how to rotate pictures in Blogger.

Zoo and Monkey Attacks

The Zoo

Today the Cambodia internship group and Jessie (a lovely member from the ward) took a trip to the zoo, which is located outside the city of Phnom Penh. Initially I was a little skeptical about this trip because I have had the worst luck at zoos. Without fail, I see 3-4 animals at the zoo. The rest are both sleeping and hidden behind shrubbery or they are not in their exhibit. However, I was optimistic that this would be different because zoos abroad tend to have more animals.

So, at 10 am the entire group me at the church and piled into a van. After an hour of talking, driving through dirt roads, and getting stuck in traffic we arrived at the dirt road that led up to the zoo. As we drove up this dirt path, you could see at least 20 individuals standing on the side of the road. In only took me a few seconds to realize that these individuals were elderly and begging for money. Unfortunately, there was no possibility of us stopping to give them money. After all, if you give one beggar money, then it is expected of you to give the others money as well. As we drove by these elderly beggars, you could tell that it had been a couple days since he or she has had a substantial meal. One of these days I am going to pack some nutritious treats to hand out to beggars.

After another 20 minutes, we arrived at the ticket booth and entered the establishment. Unlike Western zoos, this zoo did not have a nice parking lot and a paved walkway that would lead you to animal exhibits. In this zoo, there were 4 different sections that you could walk, drive, or ride a tuk tuk to. The first section was the monkey and deer exhibit, which literally is an open area with a bunch of wild monkeys and deer. People will follow you around and try to sell you potatoes and bananas to feed the animals. Of course I bought some because what are the chances you will get to feed monkeys and deer in the US? Slim. At first the monkeys and deer were very cute, they would walk up to me and gently grab the food out of my hands. 

Well, after about 10 minutes the monkeys and deer got overly excited and hungry. They started snatching the potatoes and bananas when we were not looking. It was not long before the vicious monkeys and deer found out about the food we were handing out. One of the vicious monkeys had a cleft lip and a reputation for biting. It is safe to say that we dropped a lot of our food and made a quick escape out of the exhibit.

The rest of the zoo was not that exciting. The most noteworthy experiences happened to Beau, the facilitator from BYU, who was attacked twice by two different monkeys. One of the attacks happened while he was standing by a monkey cage, the other happened while he was trying to hand a monkey a potato. I tried to convince him to touch another monkey...after all, the third try is the successful one, right?

Haggling

In Phnom Penh, there are several large markets where you can buy almost anything found in the grocery store/supermarket. These markets are paradise for hagglers, frugal people, and bargainers. Now I love a good bargain as much as the next individual, but to get that bargain you have to be good at haggling. That is where my skills lack ALOT. When I try to haggle, the vendors always give this puppy eye face and then I feel guilty for trying to bargain. I know it is relatively cheap already...I mean 3 pieces of Tupperware is $2.00. That is a great deal, right? Apparently it is not a great deal because you can get those three pieces of Tupperware for half the price. 

Personally, I do not think it is a big deal that I cannot haggle. Clarification...I can haggle a little bit. If I try really hard, I can get it down fifty cents. That is right, a whole fifty cents which is like using a coupon. That is good enough for me! After all, I only recently started using coupons. :)

Goal#4 for the summer: Expert Haggler

Things I Like

Deodorant.

Handwashing clothes...the best way to get out stains and reduce stress!

Family Motos

Garlic Pills. I have only been bit once while here! 

Riding my bike. Tessa and I have mastered the two person bicycle. Pics to come soon.

Raid. Goodbye cockroaches and ants! Hello poisonous air.

Things I Have Become Obsessed With

Since coming to Cambodia, I have become obsessed with several things:

Coca-Cola (With real cane sugar...none of this high fructose corn syrup stuff)

Fried Bananas....Delicious!

 Khmer Curry

French Bread

 

 

 

 

Rice- If I don't get rice at every meal...I go crazy

 Mango :)

95% of these things are probably not new obsessions, but they are definitely what I crave the most while in Phnom Penh. So go try some today!

-M

Fish Pond

Day 7-

Wow, who knew that blogging everyday would be so difficult. I applaud the individuals who do this on a regular basis without being graded. Truly, I am amazed.

The past few days Rachel, Tessa, and I have been researching grants and best practices for fish farming. The fish farming is part of the child nutrition sector. In Cambodia, many households have a pond outside of their homes. RACHA is proposing that instead of using these ponds for visual appeal, households can use these ponds to breed fish. By doing so, families will have access to more nutritious meals and possible revenue. In order to implement this project, RACHA has to know what has made these programs successful in different countries. 

As I have researched fish farming in other countries, I am amazed at the success programs like these have had. It will be interesting to see the progression of this program throughout the summer.

Personally, I think that RACHA should breed these types of fish. If not for the visual appeal, then for the nutritious value....haha

Paradise

Day 6 – Paradise

This past week I have been going to a hair salon, which is a slice of paradise in this humid weather. In Cambodia, salons offer hair styling, coloring, and cut as well as a simple hair washing for 3500 Riehl, which comes out to .75 cents. The hairdresser sits you down in a chair and pours a modest amount of shampoo and water into your hair. Using her nails she will then work the shampoo into your scalp while massaging your neck and head. After about 20 minutes, the hairdresser will lead you to the rinsing station.

At this station they will wash out the shampoo and add conditioner. Once they have rinsed out your hair, they will stretch out your scalp. To stretch out your scalp, they take little sections of your hair, twist it, and then pull it. Depending on who your hairdresser is, the stretching of the scalp can be very painful or incredibly relaxing. The next step is to massage the skull by smacking the head with two fingers. I burst out laughing the first time I had this done. Once this massage is finished, your hair is then styled and you are sent on your way.

Confession time, I am addicted to getting my hair washed at the hair salon next door. I have been 3 times this past week...

-Mel

Sunday Funday

Day 5 – May 20, 2012

Today I had the opportunity to go to church! Why am I so excited? Well there are several reasons why I am excited 1) going to church abroad is a learning experience 2) it has air conditioning. I know that number 2 is a tad bit shallow, but let us be honest here...98 degrees F and 93% humidity is not a good combination. No, that is not an exaggeration but actual fact. Well enough about the weather...let us get to the important part!

Today Tessa, Rachel, and I went to the international branch that meets at 10 am. It was a very small branch, but I truly enjoyed listening to the talks. Compared to talks in the states, the ones that were given in this branch were a lot more relaxed. The speaker actually used audience participation in order to reemphasize some of the gospel principles. Following sacrament meeting, we left to go meet Beau and Rosemary. The other meetings had been cancelled in order to prepare for Elder Dallin H. Oaks who was scheduled to speak at the Phnom Penh district conference later that evening. Thousands of people from Phnom Penh came to hear the general authority. Now to be honest, I do not remember all of the details about Elder Oak’s talk, but I do remember the important parts. Posted below are some snippets of his talk

1)    Create a schedule of good habits

2)    Thank the record holders within the church

3)    Avoid temptations

4)    Smile

5) When in doubt, dance it out

I may or may not have added the last one...either way it is sound advice. J

-M

Transportation

So, I am thinking of bringing one of these home with me. Good idea? Yes.

Palace, Museum, and Good Food

Jumbriasua!

Today marked my first weekend in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Today, it felt as if though it was 130% humidity and 100 degrees. Not too bad, right? All I know is that I am thoroughly enjoying the feeling of sticky and wet. Attractive, I know.  Regardless of the temperature, I was excited to do something outside of the office.

Well, today Beau, Rosemary, Rachel, Tessa, and I visited the royal palace. As we walked around the palace grounds, I was amazed at the architecture and overall design of the compound. I will eventually be posting photos on this blog because I know that reading a bunch of text is incredibly boring. One of the most interesting buildings was the one given to the King of Cambodia from Napoleon. Napoleon literally transported an iron building on a boat. Posted below is a picture of the building.

The best part of the visit to the palace was seeing Rosemary’s face. Rosemary, Beau’s wife, has this strange obsession with the King of Cambodia. She wants to name her son after the King and is constantly talking about how he is a fantastic king. She literally was smiling from ear to ear as we toured the palace. I hope sometime during this stay in Cambodia that Rosemary will meet the King.

 Once we finished touring the palace, we went to the national museum, which is about a block or two away. Unfortunately, the museum officials do not allow pictures to be taken.  However, I can tell you that Cambodia has many remarkable statutes and carvings of Buddha and other gods. If you have a chance, I would definitely put the palace and the national museum as places on your “things to do list.”

Following the tour of the national museum, we were all really hungry and wanted to eat at a restaurant.  After walking around for a few minutes, we came across a restaurant called Friends. I was incredibly excited to eat at this restaurant because I had heard about it during a news segment on KSL. Friends is a restaurant that was started by a couple that wanted to impact the lives of street children. This restaurant takes children who live on the streets and teaches them skills of the restaurant business, which include serving, cooking, etc. By doing so, the children are given skills to help them obtain a brighter future. If not for the good cause, you should check out this restaurant for the food...it is SPECTACULAR!

Well, that is all for now. Take care!

-Melanie 

Day 4

Well, I officially started my internship at RACHA. For the next few weeks, I will be working with Julia (a student from the US) to help find funding for RACHA. Apparently USAID has been cutting back funds on global non-profit organizations. As a result, RACHA is looking for alternatives for funding that would allow them to continue their public health programs. This will be one of the many projects that my fellow interns and I will be working on for the next two weeks. After that, RACHA will be taking us out to visit and work in the different districts of Cambodia. I am looking forward to the coming weeks!

Now, it is time to leave work at work. My host family is super nice and I enjoy spending time with them. The host mother reminds me a lot of my own grandmother. She cooks the best food and is constantly getting mad at me when I try to help clear the table. My host mom does not speak a word of English and I speak 2 words of Khemr...so there is constantly a game of charades going on. The host dad is incredibly funny. He is always laughing at us and making sure he knows where we are going. The host dad knows more English, but it will be quite a while before we can hold a long conversation. I will add pictures up on this blog at some point, but right now I don’t have the patience to wait for them to upload. So, you will have to wait for quite some time to see them. Yay!

Also, the food here is amazing! I will definitely not be starving this summer. In fact, I will probably come back chunkier. Yum J

Day 3

Jumbriasua,

Today marks the third day in Phnom Penh and I met with the NGO RACHA to discuss internship possibilities.  I feel incredibly bad because my eyes were glazing over during a large portion of the introductions. Over the next few days I will be re-introducing myself and learn more about the different projects RACHA is currently working on. The departments I am most excited to learn more about include infectious disease, safe motherhood, and health communication.

Yay for possibilities!